Blowing away Win2000?

Hi JeffHPI,
That depends on whether or not you want to keep your programs and files ( a much longer and difficult process) or whether you want to do a complete wipe of the system and install Windows 98.

If you want to do a completely clean install, then download a Windows 98 SE boot disk from here: http://www.bootdisk.com
then use the boot disk to fdisk, and format your drive,
then install your Windows 98 CD.

If you want to try to salvage your information and files, then we need a bit more info on what needs to be saved and what state the system is in.

Hope this helps!

:o)

Bartender_1

I don't care about files on the C hard drive... I do want to keep those on D (the second hard drive that wasn't changed over to NTFS.  Can I just change that HD to that file system somehow?

JeffHPI,
Do you know if they are two different physical drives or if they are both one physical drive, but different partitions?

:o)

Bartender_1

two different physical drives.

remember to delete the NTFS using the fdisk by selecting delete NON DOS PARTITION

chees

Flatten your Hard Drive

First thing to do is get hold of a bootable floppy, if you don’t have one download one from.
www.boodisk.com

You can then boot using your boot floppy.

NOTE this will only work if the boot order is set (in the BIOS settings) to boot from the floppy (A:\) drive before the hard drive (may be listed as IDE0)

After the PC has booted and you are at command line type

Fdisk {enter}

The fdisk program will start; if it asks do you want large drive support select the default answer of “y” for yes.

Type 3 {enter} to delete existing DOS partition.

Type 1 to delete the PRIMARY DOS PARTITION.


Type 1 to select PRIMARY DOS PARTITION. (If it wont let you because you have more than one partition you will need to first delete any logical drives then delete the extended partition)
When prompted for VOLUME LABEL, look at the partition information at the top of the screen. Type in exactly what is written under Volume Label for the first partition. If there is nothing there, press the Enter key.
Type Y to verify deletion of the partition.
The primary DOS partition has been deleted. Press the Esc key and the system should return to the utility menu.
Press escape to exit, you MUST now reboot (leave the floppy in!!)
***Now create the new partition***
Type FDISK the at the command prompt and press ENTER:
Click #1. Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS drive' and press ENTER.
Click #1. Create Primary DOS Partition' and press ENTER.
Follow the instructions to create a primary partition of the desired size.
Set your Active Partition. Select 2 from the FDISK Main menu, and set your active
Now that's done, press escape to exit FDISK and reboot your system
***Format the partition***
If you want FAT32 formatting simply reboot and at command line type
format c:
If you want NTFS (For W2K or XP) boot from the setup CD and select “format the partition as NTFS” when prompted
***Help it didn’t work!!***
Download killdisk.exe from http://www.killdisk.com/ and put it on your boot floppy, reboot and type killdisk {enter} at command line.

Ive also put a lot of stuff on my OLD website here http://homepage.ntlworld.com/pete.long007/tutorials.htm

OK I didn't get far!  I downloaded the Win98 boot disk and saved it to floppy.  First off, do I re-boot with the Win98 CD in or out?  The problem I had (doing it either way) was that when I tried to boot from the floppy with the Win98 boot on it, I got the following:

NTLDR is missing
Press any key to restart

This just keeps repeating as I press any key.  What is going on with it?  What have I done wrong?

By the way... this message appears right after I see the folowing:

Verifying DMI Pool Data

It sounds as if your system is set to boot from the Hard Drive first.

You need to set the BIOS to boot from the floppy before the Hard Drive.

Also, you state "I downloaded the Win98 boot disk and saved it to floppy.". Am I correct in believing that you didn't run the file when you downloaded it?
If so, you need to save the file to your Hard Drive, then run it. It should automatically create a bootable floppy for you on a disk in your floppy drive.

I apologize for not getting back to you sooner. Is there a reason you decided to accept my comment before this was resolved for you?

Hope this helps!

:o)

Bartender_1

Actually I thought it was resolved.  I didn't anticipate the problem I ran across.

No, I failed to run the program to create the floppy.  I missed that part.

I'm new to this forum so I don't exactly know how this all works 100% yet.

:) if you can get your PC to boot from the CD you wont need a boot disk :)

Pete, I've tried that and I keep getting some "General Protection Fault" error and it closes whenever I try to boot from the CD.   (I think that's what it said)  My computer is majorly screwed up right now!  

You can use whatever system you are using to access the net for this forum to create the boot disk for you.

:o)

Bartender_1

How's this for a solution?  I just talked to an I.T. guy here at work and he suggested going out and buying a new hard drive and replacing the screwed up one with the new one and avoid all these other problems.  He said that this way if I ever find I need something on the old hard drive, it is still there.  If money is not an issue, would you all do this over reinstalling Win98 after fdisking?  The old hard drive is only 13 GB and this way I could go get a new master HD with around 40 GB to go with my second HD that already has 40 GB.  Around here anyway, hard drives are only around $1 per GB.

This won't work as easily as you anticipate.
You've formatted the drive as NTFS, so when you put Windows 98 on the new 40Gb drive, it won't see the NTFS drive.

You will need to have some form of NTFS reader to view the drive.

Hope this helps!

:o)

Bartender_1

OK I think you missed what I was trying to say...

I am removing completely the old drive which is the master HD.  I am going to put in the Win98 CD ROM then shut down the computer.  I'll take out the current 13 GB HD where the OS is located completely and put in the new drive I'm buying (a 40 GB HD).  The second (slave) HD that's already in there never got converted to FAT32 so it's ok... I'll ust unplug the cable for it.  Then I'll re-boot the computer with the Win98 CD in the machine and re-install Win98 fresh from the disk to the new HD.  Then when that is working fine, I'll shut down again, plug the second HD that's still FAT32 back in and power up.  Done deal, right?

This will work to access your data that is in your Secondary (FAT32) drive.

The concern I was bringing up was your boot (Primary) drive that has been converted to NTFS, any info on this drive will not be accessible. If you don't have any info on this drive that you want, then it isn't a concern.

:o)

Bartender_1

You aren't following me... the new drive has NOT been formatted to NTFS.  It is a clean, empty, brand new HD in a box from CompUSA.  It is a Seagate 40 GB ATA 100 7200 RPM internal HD... not formatted to FAT32 OR NTFS either one yet.  Once I gety it in my machine, I'll format it to FAT32 like the secondary HD that's already in it.  The original master HD, a 13 GB HD that was re-formatted to NTFS, will be gone, removed from the machine.  Does this make sense now?

~grins~

Ummmm... yes. Basically we're saying the same thing, but I'm not stating it correctly. What I mean is exactly what you're saying.

The 13GB that is formatted to NTFS will not be (natively) accessible to Windows 98 installed on the new 40GB drive, but the data on the "old" 40GB drive will be accessible.

:o)

Bartender_1

Hey Bartender...

Seems everything worked and I'm all set up with Win98 again except for one thing... the primary slave, the second physical hard drive that was never converted to NTFS is not detected during start up BUT when I go to "My Computer", it is not listed there?  Can you tell me what I need to do to get it to be listed as a drive there?  Like I mentioned... it recognizes it fine during start up but not once Windows98 is booted and running properly.  This HD is only for storage and does not have to OD located on it.  Thanks in advance for whatever you can tell me!

Jeff

P.S. I wish I'd done a fresh install of Windows LONG ago!  All sorts of little problems I was having before are GONE (i.e. main CD ROM did not work properly with the CD ROM Burner, the scrolling on the monitor was very choppy, etc.)